Here's an activity that a favorite theme: You have to unlearn something old before you can learn something new. A nice thing about this brief activity is that you don't need any props.
Synopsis
The participants follow your instructions and look at four different directions. Later, the meanings of the words up and down are exchanged to create confusion.
Purpose
To experience the need for unlearning previous habits.
Participants
Two or more, working in pairs.
Time
3 minutes for the activity; 3 minutes for the debriefing.
Flow
Brief participants. Tell the participants that you are going to give instructions on different direction to look. They must turn their head (only the head, not the body) and look in the appropriate direction.
Explain the details. When you say, “Up”, participants should tilt their head and look at the ceiling. When you say, “Down”, participants should lower their head and look at the floor. When you say, “Left”, participants should turn their head to their left. When you say, “Right”, participants should turn their head to the right.
Begin the activity. Say the words up, down, left, and right in a random order. Instruct participants to follow your instructions. Keep giving the directions at a fairly rapid pace.
Change the meaning of the words. After about a minute, tell the participants that you are going to make a change. From now on, up will mean down and vice versa. So, when you say “Down”, the participants should look up at the ceiling. Similarly, when you say “Up”, the participants should look down at the floor. Explain that the meaning of the words left and right will remain the same. Call out the four directions in a random order and ask the participants to follow your instructions. Remind them the new meanings of the words up and down.
Conclude the session. You see many “mistakes” and lot of laughter. After another couple of minutes, announce the end of the activity.
Debriefing
Ask participants how difficult it was to follow instructions when the meanings of words were changed. Ask them to share similar experiences they might have had in real life.
Learning Points
1. It is difficult to learn new concepts without unlearning some old concepts.
2. The old way of doing things interferes with learning new procedures.